Second Chances
by emuroo
Summary: It's 7th year, and James and Lily must cooperate as heads. That's hard when James hurt Lily years ago. Voldemort is killing left and right, and no one is unaffected. Lily must give James a second chance if they and their friends are to survive. J/L.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Any characters, places, ideas, or things that you recognize aren't mine.

Dedication: To Sing-Your-Heart-Out for suggesting that I write this and for reviewing every single one of my stories. Thanks!

Author's Note: IMPORTANT! This is a sequel to Missed Chance. You don't have to read that for this to make sense, but it helps.

Second Chances

Prologue

Henri looked down at her sleeping friend. She held two envelopes in her hand, one addressed to her and one to her friend. After a few moments consideration she decided that it was time for her friend to get up. She bet down and started to poke her.

The other girl's eyes opened as she shrieked with laughter. When she was satisfied that her friend was really awake she straightened up. "It's nearly ten! Get up lazybones!"

"Why should I?" asked the other girl, her voice tinged with annoyance, "It isn't like school has started. Please Henri. I don't want to get up! I bet that you don't even have one good reason."

"I do."

"Oh, yeah? Then what is it?" asked the other girl, her voice skeptical.

"Because," stated Henri, "I have your Hogwarts letter. And it's Seventh year."

The other girl squeaked and jumped up. She reached for her letter eagerly.

"Not yet," cried Henri, standing on tiptoe so that her friend couldn't reach the letter. "First you have to promise that you won't go back to bed. Then you can have the letter." As she spoke Henri was grinning. She knew that her friend was hoping to be Head Girl, and that it must be driving her crazy to be able to see the envelope that held the answer to her questions, but to be unable to reach it.

"I promise, I promise! Now give it!"

Having gotten her letter the other girl sat down on the bed, hands shaking. Slowly she opened the envelope and reached inside.

"YES! I got it," she jumped up, grabbed Henri, and started spinning around the room with her.

Finally disentangling herself from her friend's grasp Henri went over to the forgotten envelope and looked inside. She removed first the usual letter and supplies list, then another sheet of paper. She started to read.

"_Dear Miss Lily Evans,_

_I am pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as Head Girl. Your first duties are to speak to the other prefects on the Hogwarts express. You will tell them the passwords to the four houses as well as instructing them in their first duties. As Head Girl you are expected to set an example for all students. Personal feelings must not compromise your performance as Head Girl, or you will lose the position. You are asked to attend a meeting with Professor Dumbledore and the Head Boy after the welcome feast. You are to go to the door to the headmaster's office to wait for him to let you in. Good luck._

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall. _

_P.S. I feel that I must inform you of the Head Boy's identity so that you may be prepared. The head boy is James Potter._

Lily stared at her friend for a minute then began to laugh. "For a minute there I actually thought that you were serious! _Potter_ as Head Boy! That's a good one." She broke down once more, laughing uncontrollably.

Henri waited for Lily to stop then took her friend's hand and sat her down. "Lily, I wasn't joking. Potter is Head Boy. And Dumbledore is officially crazy and stupid. Sort of like Potter!"

Lily looked at her with disbelieving horror. Then she snatched the letter. As she scanned it her eyes widened. "Could this be any worse? I get my dream of being Head Girl. There's just one teensy-weesnsy, little complication. The other Head is POTTER!" By now she was weeping and yelling. Henri simply sat there, holding her friend as she cried when the anger had dissipated and the pain and fright and frustration kicked in.

There was a simple reason that the girls hated James Potter. He had done things to them that were infuriating and rude and mean. When they were younger he had seemed to be somewhat mischievous. He pulled pranks, but they were generally harmless.

In third year that had started to change. Lily had a crush on James. She and her friends were playing Zap, and Lily ended up having to ask James out. He said yes, then a week later told her that it was all a joke. He didn't even think that he'd done anything wrong.

He also started to play pranks that were crueler. He never permanently injured anyone's body, but their dignity or self-esteem was another matter. As far as he was concerned all Slytherins were evil. They weren't truly human, so they deserved to be attacked. He once explained just that to Lily. This was after she yelled at him for- you guessed it- hexing Slytherins.

He had also decided shortly after the Zap fiasco that he _liked_ her. And, being Potter, this meant that he had to ask her out. And then do it again, and again, and again.

But, as far as Lily (or Henri for that matter) was concerned, he was a lying, cheating, idiotic, stupid, evil toerag. And that was putting it mildly.

So you can imagine how unhappy Lily was to discover that he would be Head Boy.

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After she had calmed down a bit Lily began to attempt to convince herself that it wasn't that bad. Through the whole thing Henri sat silently, listening to her.

"I mean, Dumbledore is crazy, but he doesn't do things without a reason, does he?" asked Lily almost frantically. When there was no reply she asked again, her voice going up an octave. "Does he? Does he?"

"Not usually, then again this is the most brilliant wizard of our age… Who is obsessed with sherbet lemons. Who knows _what_ he's thinking?"

"NOT helping Henri! I need some support here!"

"Oh. Right. I'm sure that it'll all turn out fine. Maybe the idiot has changed! Look, I know that I wasn't being totally serious there, but I truly think that Dumbledore has to have had a reason for choosing him. After all, he isn't stupid," Henri looked at her friend encouragingly.

"Right. Not stupid, not stupid, not stupid, not stupid, not stu-" her voice was getting more and more frantic as she tried to convince herself/

"Lily! Calm down. It isn't the end of the world. That won't come until, oh, I don't know, you agree to go out with him or something!"

Lily looked at Henri miserably, "What am I going to do? He won't do any work and he'll spend all of his time asking me out!"

"Lily, you don't know that! Give him a chance. Look, what you need to do is contact him before the meeting on the train. Send him an owl telling him to meet you at King's cross early. You two can have a meeting then. You're going with me, and now that we've passed our apparition tests we can do that. There's a special spot at the station for people who are apparating in. Tell James to meet you there. He'll know where it is. You can sort things out then, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," Lily stood and got some parchment and a quill out of her trunk. "You know, I'm almost out of parchment and ink. We'll have to go to Diagon alley soon for school supplies."

She set her quill on the paper wrote _Dear_, and then stopped ad looked up. "What do I write?"

"I'll tell you, and you write what I say, alright?" She looked up, saw her friend nod and started to speak.

"Dear James Potter,

I was recently informed of your new position as Head Boy. I as I am aware that you were not previously a prefect, I feel that it would be best if we went over the duties of the Head Boy and Girl before meeting with the prefects. I would like to ask that you meet me at the apparition point at King's Cross at 9:00 on September first. At that time we can discuss your duties and the conduct expected of the Heads.

Sincerely,

Lily Evans."

The girls nodded to each other, as if agreeing that this was what they wanted to say, and then they tied the letter to the leg of Henri's owl, Ilana, and watched as she flew off into the sky.


	2. Meetings

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine.

Author's Note: I changed the time of the meeting to 9:00 from 9:30.

Meetings

"Remind why I agreed to this?"

Lily and Henri were standing at the King's Cross apparition point, waiting for James Potter to arrive. He wasn't really late, they had arrived a few minutes early due to Henri's insistence that they should not be late. If it had been up to Lily they wouldn't have gone at all.

"You are here because James was never a prefect and will have no idea what to do. You also want to talk with him," Henri said sounding slightly exasperated.

"What am I going to say? We've never really even had a conversation!" Lily's voice was slightly panicky.

"You will tell him about your duties, and what he has to do on the train. Then you will talk to him as a human being. You two need to get over your antagonism if you are going to be effective as Heads. You need to tell him that you are not going to tolerate continued behavior of sort that he has displayed over the past two years. He can't ask you out. Remember, he had a chance, but he gave it up. Still, even if you won't go out with him, he might be an okay friend. Give him a chance."

Although Henri's voice was calm Lily could tell that it was taking every bit of her will power to stay calm. Henri hated the way James treated her friend, but she thought that everyone had some aspect of them that was good, and, anyway, Lily had wanted to be Head Girl for years. She couldn't lose it just because the other head was Potter. Even if he was scum.

Lily swallowed hard as she saw James appear alongside his friend Sirius Black. "Right, give him a chance." She then stepped forward to greet James.

"Hello Potter."

"Hi Evans. I'm here. For the meeting thing."

"You mean that you aren't in Africa? And you didn't decide to arrive two hours before the train leaves just for fun? Wow. You really are a strange person."

"What, no. I'm here for the meeting. I just said that!"

"Sarcasm, Potter. I know that it's hard for you, but I'd appreciate it if you tried not to be stupid. Let's just do this. Why don't we go sit over there. Black and Henri can wait here. There're some things that we need to discuss."

"Sounds good," replied James with a grin.

After they reached the bench that Lily had indicated the two seventeen-year-olds sat down, Lily scooting on the bench to be as far away from James as possible.

"So, what do want to talk about?" James asked after they were settled.

"Well, you were never a Prefect."

"I know."

"So, you don't know what your duties are. I can fill you in on most of them as we go along, but I thought that it would be good for us to discuss the train meeting. We need to tell the houses what the passwords are first, and then tell the fifth-year prefects what they have to do. We also need to tell them about leading the first years to their houses, and remind them of their responsibilities. We introduce the new prefects and ourselves to everyone and vice-versa. Any questions?"

"What exactly are my duties?"

"Well…"

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Henri and Sirius looked at one another. Then Henri went to sit down on a bench. Sirius followed her. They sat in silence for several minutes. Then Sirius spoke. "Um, hi."

"Hello Black," Henri's voice was stony.

"So…" Sirius fished around for something to say, "how was your summer?"

"It was fine, thanks for asking. I'd ask how you were, but I, unlike you haven't forgotten that we aren't friends."

"Gosh, I was just making conversation, Laws! You don't have get all prickly. Anyway, James and Evans are heads this year. That probably means that we'll have to spend a bunch of time together. It just seems to me like we should try to get along for their sake."

Henri let out a bark of laughter. "Black, do you actually think that Lily and Potter are just suddenly going to become best friends just because they are both Heads?"

"No, of course not. They are going to fall in love! James is already most of the way there of course, and Evans likes him even if she won't admit it!"

"You are obviously blind, deaf, and have a bad memory. Lily doesn't like James. She hates his guts. I would not be terribly surprised if James returns to us in several pieces."

"You are not suggesting that Lily would use magic on a platform full of muggles? The fair maid would never do such a thing!" cried Sirius feigning horror.

"No," replied Henri dryly, " I'm suggesting that she may murder him with her bare hands. She, unlike you, has an excellent memory, and knows exactly what kind a person Potter is. She is giving him a second chance because of their new position. That doesn't mean that she has suddenly gotten to be stupid."

"Whatever you say. I still think that they would be a perfect couple. If only Evans would agree."

"In case you've forgotten, your dear friend, Potter, had her. _He_ messed up. _He_ missed his chance. _She_ didn't do anything."

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"Head boy is a lot more complicated than I imagined. Is that everything?" James asked after Lily had explained his duties. He was smiling, thinking about how they hadn't yelled at each other once.

"Those are all of your responsibilities," as he started to rise she continued, "I'm not done. We need to discuss your behavior."

"What about it?"

"You have to set an example. You can't just act like you're three anymore. You need to at least tone down the pranks, even if you refuse to stop them. You need to be responsible. And you will stop asking me out. I don't want to hear it. I don't like you. You had your chance, and lost it. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Evans, I do. I really am sorry though," James' expression had changed, and he now looked very downcast.

"Good. I really do mean it, Potter. Actually I suppose that we should call each other by first names if we're to be working together. Look, I am going to try very hard to be civil with you. Maybe we'll even become friends. I'm willing to give you a second chance, but you have to make an effort."

"Okay. I really will try. I would love to be your friend, Eva- I mean Lily. I know that we can be the best Heads ever!"

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"Is Evans going to give Prongs a second chance? Because, see, the thing is, I know that he was a prat before, but he really has changed. He's grown up a lot. I know that he really upset her in third year and everything, but he would never do something like that now. Truly."

"I honestly don't know. She was so mad at him. For that and the way he tortured Snape. They knew each other before school started. He told her about Hogwarts and magic, and she helped him- with stuff. I'm not going to tell you what, so don't ask. I don't like him much, but that doesn't mean that I think that you should torture him. Anyway, she isn't really friends with him anymore, although I suspect that she wouldn't appreciate it if Potter or the rest of you continued to attack him." Henri paused, and looked directly at Sirius for the first time.

"You do know that we don't always start those fights, don't you? He's attacked us plenty of times. And he's done stuff that was really mean to Moony."

Henri looked at him curiously, noticing that there was a look of guilt and shame on Sirius's face, as though he blamed himself for some of the things that Snape had done. After a moment she answered him, "It's one thing when it's self-defense. But you have to admit that he doesn't start everything."

"Fair enough. What on earth is taking Prongs and Evans so long?"

"What are those stupid nicknames? Actually, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Here they come," Henri stood and went to greet her friend, saying, "Come on, lets go to the platform. The others should be arriving soon. You two took _forever_! And I was left here with _Black_."

"You're forgetting that I can't stay with you. I've got to go to the prefect meeting. I'm sort of running it! I'll come with you to find a compartment, but I can't stay."

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"James, wait," Lily called out to her fellow Head as he started to return to his compartment after their meeting with the prefects.

He turned, "Yes Evans, I mean Lily."

"I just wanted to say that you did a good job in there. Last year's Head Boy didn't do as well, at least in my opinion, and he'd already been a prefect for two years. Oh, and don't forget that we have a meeting with Dumbledore after the feast.

"Thanks for the reminder. And thanks for giving another chance. I promise to do better. Or at least to try."

Lily nodded, then said, "Yeah. I don't know if I can completely trust you yet, not after, well, everything, but you have a chance. Good luck."

With that the two teens turned and walked to the compartments where their friends were.

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As Lily entered her compartment she was attacked. Her friends, Laura Rabnott, Ruth Kent, and Sarah Johnson all jumped on her, hugging her and demanding that she tell them about her summer and the meeting.

"Can I please sit down? I know you all missed me since I am after all the most wonderful person you know, but please, give me little breathing room!" Lily was laughing delightedly, having forgotten just how much she liked her friends.

"My summer was fine, as made clear by the fact that I am here. I am here, aren't I?" she asked voice filled with fake worry. "Anyways, I'm sure that Henri told some stuff, I was with her for the last three weeks! And I saw all of you just a week before that."

"So what?" exclaimed Sarah, "You hadn't gotten your letter yet, and we want to hear it from you."

"It's not all that exciting. I got a letter, it said that I was head girl, and then I stated crying upon the discovery that James is Head Boy."

All the other girls stared at her. Laura was the one to ask the question in all of their minds. "James? You haven't called him that since before the Game! What happened?"

"Oh," replied Lily looking slightly flustered, "We decided that since we'll be working together this year we ought to use first names. It's not a big deal."

"Of course not. The fact that you just used the first name of someone who you despise and haven't had a normal conversation with in four years, ever since the Game really, is not a big deal? Who are you and what have you done with Lily?" asked Sarah.

Lily looked at her friends who were all looking at her expectantly. "I'm giving him a second chance. It's been four years, maybe he's changed."

"I think you like him," announced Laura.

"WHAT? I do not like Potter! Have you forgotten the Game and what he did to me?" Lily cried in horror.

"No, but I also haven't forgotten that you had a crush on him before that," answered Laura defensively.

"Well, you know Lily, she is sort of right. You _did_ like him, even if you don't anymore. But, you know, Laura, things do change," Henri said, acting as peacemaker as usual.

"Exactly," agreed Lily, nodding vigorously. Then, in an attempt to get the attention off herself she asked, "So, Laura, how was your summer?"

"It was pretty good," came the reply, followed by a chuckle. "Have you seen Amos Diggory? He is SO hot! And he's really sweet too. I really like him. I can honestly say that I've never felt this way about any other guy."

The other girls exchanged looks; this happened to Laura a lot. Every time that she had a crush she would tell them that she had never felt this way. It was a speech that they all knew by now. The only change was that every month, sometimes more often the guy's name would change.

As the girls began to discuss Diggory and the summers that they had had, Lily thought to herself, '_maybe this year won't be as bad as I expected.'_

Author's note: That is the longest chapter I've ever written. Umm, I have to tell you that I don't know how often this will be updated. It might be every week, but it might not. Sorry about that. Also, I want to thank all of the lovely people who either reviewed this or put it on their alerts/favorites.


	3. Changes

"I can't believe that this is our last start of term feast," said Henri sadly

Disclaimer: Any characters, places, things, or events that you recognize are not mine. Lily's friends are, and the storyline sort of is, but that's about it.

Changes

"I can't believe that this is our last start of term feast," said Henri sadly. "The past six years happened so fast."

The five girls were sitting at the Gryffindor table watching the sorting. As they watched Adams, Jonathan was sorted into Ravenclaw. Another child was called forward, then another and another.

"What do you want to do when you leave?" Henri looked around as she said this, inviting anyone to answer.

After looking around to ensure that no one else was going to speak first Lily answered. "Well, you know You-Know-Who? And how he and his – servants, I guess you'd call them- have been hurting and killing and torturing people? Well I'd like to be an Auror. I want to fight him. Stop him. He doesn't have the right to hurt people for things that they can't change. No one does."

Next to speak was Sarah. "That's really, really brave Lily. I'm certain that you can do it. I want to be a healer. I agree with Lily, but I don't think that I'm really made for fighting. If I had to I would, but… You know. And I just really want to help people. This won't stop what is happening, but it will help fix the problems. And also, I really love it. I've talked a bit with Madam Pomfrey, and I think that it will be something that I really love doing."

"I want to be a reporter for the daily Prophet," said Ruth. "It isn't glorious, but it would be interesting." She looked around at the others a little nervously. Her plans seemed rather simple in comparison to the ones that the other girls had. In an attempt to shift attention away from herself she said, "what do you want to be Laura?"

Laura just grinned. "I don't really know, but it's gonna be great."

Raising her eyebrows, Henri asked, "What classes are you taking?"

"Charms, Defense, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Astronomy. What about you, Henri? What are you going to do?"

"Well, I think that I want to be an Auror. Because, well, it's like Lily said, isn't it? We can't just let some wizard walk all over us. We should fight for this. I can't imagine what this world would be like without you guys, or my family, or really even the teachers and most of the Gryffindors at least! I don't want to lose that."

All of the girls nodded, somehow feeling that this was the important thing. They were all silent for a moment as each pondered her own future and the dangerous world that they were soon to enter.

A moment or so later they were startled by Dumbledore standing. "Welcome. To those of you who have never been here before, I hope that Hogwarts will be a good home for you for this year, and for the six after that. For those of you who have already attended in the past, welcome back to our fine castle. I will not bore you with a long speech, as I am certain that if you are all as ravenous as I am I will be removed from the dining hall before I can finish, so that you may all eat. Therefore I urge you to begin this wonderful feast."

"With pleasure," exclaimed Lily. "I'm always absolutely starved by the time we start to eat."

"I know just what you mean," agreed Sarah, helping herself to some mashed potatoes.

After they had been eating for long enough to take the edge off of their hunger Lily said, "You know what really amazes me?" The others shook their heads. "How fast things have changed. Ten years ago we hadn't even heard of He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named. Now hardly a day goes by when there isn't something in the news about him."

Suddenly Sarah looked at Ruth. "Ruth, are you going to report on-on Him? Will you be safe?" it was clear that she had been thinking that at least she wouldn't have to worry too much about Ruth getting hurt, but now that certainty was being shaken.

"Maybe," and now Ruth was smiling, "Wouldn't it be wonderful? I can't fight or heal. I might want to, I don't know, but I'm simply not good enough at magic. But I can write. I want to make sure that people know what is happening. That way they won't be mislead. Maybe I'll work for the Daily Prophet, but I'm thinking of starting a paper myself. I don't like how much the Prophet changes just to please the Ministry. I want to make sure that people get the real story."

"That's really cool. I hope that it works out." Henri was the first to respond to Ruth's announcement. It was unusual for her to think of something like this, but when she did she saw it through to the end.

Laura looked around at the others and said, "How can you guys already know what you want to do? It isn't fair! I want to have a job like that. What should I do?"

"Well," replied Lily slowly, "What do you like?"

"Clothes, animals, you guys, and magic."

"Okay. Well, you could do something with taking care of animals. Or you could work at Madam Malkins. Or something like that."

"Maybe, but, well, all of you guys are going to help people. How can I do something like that?"

This time it was Henri who answered her, "You should do something that you love, otherwise it isn't really worth it, is it?"

As Laura opened her mouth to respond Dumbledore stood. The Great Hall fell silent as the student waited for his speech. Even the first years seemed to realize that They should not talk just now.

"As I said before, welcome. Tonight the new school year starts. I am delighted to see you all again and to meet our new students. Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that magic is not toe be used in the corridors, nor is it ever to be used to destroy school property. He asks that you take good care of this school and not track dirt all over, even if you are 'evil, little, filthy rats' to use his words." As he said this Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, as though he was barely suppressing his laughter. "There is also to be no use of certain objects, a list of which may be found on his office door. The Forbidden Forest is out of bounds, this being the reason, of course, that we call it forbidden."

"Now, I feel that it is my duty to remind you that although we are safe here, within the walls of this castle, the world around us is presently I a state of turmoil, due to a wizard know widely as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or Lord Voldemort," he paused, waiting for the gasps that had arisen at his use of the Dark Lord's name to die down, then continued. "He is strongest in those places where he has successfully spread hatred, allowing him to take out his enemies when they are divided and weak. Thus I ask you to unite, to put aside your differences and work together, for only in this way may we overcome him and his followers."

"It is difficult to grow up in times such as these, but I believe that all of you are capable of doing so. IF you work together and make use of the resources and strengths you and your fellow students have you will succeed at whatever you attempt. On that note I bid you all good night, and remind you that your prefects know the passwords and will lead the first years to the dorms. Good evening."

As the students stood Lily looked nervously at her friends. "Well, here goes nothing. I'm off to meet with James and Professor Dumbledore. See you later." She hugged each of the girls in turn, then walked nervously over to James. "Hi, James. It's time for the meeting. Come on."

"Yes. It is. I wonder why he wants to see us." The two teens stood looking at each other until James broke the silence. "Well, I guess that we had better go. We don't want to be late."

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when _James Potter_ would be reminding _me_ not to be late! I guess some things really do change." The two grinned at each other as though Lily's words had started the destruction of a wall between them.

As they walked James asked "Lily, what do you want to do after you graduate?" Lily wondered for a moment about how he was taking every chance he had to say her name as if he was amazed that he was allowed to do so.

"I want to be an Auror. So that I can fight You-Know-Who. I hate what he's doing. I keep thinking every time that I see an article about how there's been another attack that that could be my friends or my family. I really want to stop him." Lily fell silent, looking as if she was un comfortable with having shared so much information with James, and then said, "How about you?"

James looked thoughtful for a moment. "I want to be an Auror. But not," he continued when Lily looked ready to rebuke him for copying, "because I want to follow or copy you. I hate that these 'death eaters' and this wizard can do this and keep saying that it is to 'purify the wizarding race.' They act like all purebloods want that, and I'm a pureblood, but that isn't what I want. People who are muggleborn aren't stupid or less magical. More often than not, I've noticed that they are _better_ at magic, not worse. So, yeah. That's what I want to be"

They had reached the door of Dumbledore's office and found that he was waiting for them there. "Good evening, Mr. Potter, Miss Evans. I'd like to invite you to enter my office so that we can have a discussion and then I will send you off to bed, as I don't doubt that you want to be well rested for your first day."

He turned, said "Sugar Quills," and two gargoyles sprang aside to reveal a moving spiral staircase, which they climbed. When they reached the office they found that there were two chairs facing Dumbledore's desk which had clearly been put there in anticipation of their arrival.

Lily and James took their seats and waited as the Headmaster did the same. Then he spoke, " There are two things which I wish to speak to you about. First the reasons you were appointed to your posts. Miss Evans, you, of course, are probably not a surprise to anyone. You are responsible, smart, kind, as well as being an excellent student. You on the other hand, Mr. Potter, I highly doubt that you were expecting the Head Boy badge that you received in your letter."

"No sir, I really wasn't. I wanted to ask you about that. Why me? I wasn't even a prefect. And wouldn't Remus have been better? He does at least as good in classes, and he's a lot better behaved. Why me?"

"There are several reasons that I chose you. One is that I believe that you have grown up quite a bit in the last few years. Also you are very brave and righteous." Dumbledore paused upon seeing James once more open his mouth.

"But Remus is like that too! He'd be a much better Head Boy. He certainly deserves it more."

To the surprise of his students the Headmast sighed deeply. "I realize that Mr. Lupin seems more fit for the job, however it is all that my influence can do to allow him to attend Hogwarts and be a prefect due to his, ah, his condition. I am sure that you know what I mean Mr. Potter."

Lily looked at the two makes indignantly and said "I am not blind, I do have a calendar, and I know what Remus' 'condition' is. He's a werewolf. I guessed years ago, and asked him about it."

"Yes, I thought that you might know, Miss Evans, but I thought it best not to say it, just in case you did not." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as though he thought that this was absolutely brilliant of Lily.

"How stupid do you think that I am?' she exclaimed in annoyance, "I was prefect with him for two years. Even if I hadn't figured it out before then I would know it now. I was able to give excuses when he couldn't come to meetings or patrols."

"Indeed. At any rate, it seemed prudent to make Mr. Potter the Head Boy. And I must say that I think that you two will work well together." Upon seeing their looks of surprise he added, "Look at what you have already done! The two of you were not the best of friends when you left school last year, despite the wishes of one of you," he smiled at James' blush, "now the two of you are on a first name basis, and I have been told that you both did admirably well on the train."

"It is now necessary to turn to a matter that is rather less pleasant. As I said at dinner Lord Voldemort is gaining power. I notice that you both, like many wizards and witches, dislike hearing his name. I personally see no reason to fear it, for it is only a word, after all. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

"At any rate I think that it is unfortunately likely that at least some of the family members of our students will be critically injured or killed during this year, if last year is any indicator. I would like to ask the two of you to help me in aiding those who lose family members. It is, as am sure you can imagine, a painful experience. I think that it is possible that students will respond better other students trying to help them than to a teacher. Will you help me with this? It would include being the one to break the news to them, and then talking to them in the aftermath, offering your support and so on. Will you help me?"

Lily was the first to answer, "Yes, professor. I will. But may I suggest that maybe we should have the oldest prefects for the other houses do it for their students? That way it will be someone more familiar to them."

James nodded agreement, then added, "I think that Remus should help us though. He's good at that sort of stuff."

"Very well. Thank you for your time. You may now leave and go to your dorms. Good luck with your classes."

The two Heads turned to leave, each thinking about the task that Dumbledore had set them. They paused upon hearing his voice, "Oh, and I will have a house elf contact you when you need to speak to a student. I will explain to your teachers and those of the seventh year Prefects that there may be occasions when you will be called out of your classes. I would like you to organize a meeting tomorrow to explain this to the prefects. Now I really am finished. Good night."

After leaving his office Lily turned to James and asked, "how can this have happened? When we started at Hogwarts hardly anyone knew who he was, at least it seemed that way. Now we expect that he'll kill families of students."

"I guess that things change. Sometimes for the better, but sometimes for the worse. I get the feeling that this one comes under that second category." As they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady James said "Blubber." The door swung open t admit them, then closed behind them.

"Good night Lily."

"Night James. You know, it seems to me like you changed for the better. I'm not saying that you're my best friend, but you're not the idiot I knew in third year."

Author's note: This is even longer that the last chapter. Which makes it really, really long for something that I wrote. I want to know people's opinions on the way that I wrote Dumbledore, so please tell me if you have the chance. I promise that I will respond to every review that I receive.


	4. Of Prefects, Muggles, and Confessions

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize. I don't even really own Lily's friends, because all of them are based on character traits of people I know. Except for Henri, who I am very proud of.

Dedication: To Maris, my first friend in high school.

Of Prefects, Muggles, and Confessions

"Hello, I have called you here today to discuss a duty which Dumbledore has asked the seventh year prefects to perform this year," Lily paused, looking unsurely at James. The two teens were standing in front of the seventh year prefects in the meeting room that was usually used for prefect meetings. They had called the meeting to inform the Prefects of the their new duty.

It hadn't seemed so hard when they had talked about it though. But, standing here in front of the prefects, Lily was suddenly flustered. How did one explain that the headmaster of the best wizarding school, who also happened to be an extremely powerful wizard, thought that so many parents would die over the course of the next year that there needed to be a school policy in place as to how to comfort kids?

James looked at Lily, and seeing her hesitation spoke, although sounding slightly uncomfortable himself, "Well, you all know about V-Voldemort, right?" As he said the name he stuttered, for although he had taken the headmaster's words about using the names for things to heart, he was still getting used to doing so. After seeing nods of agreement from the others he continued, "Well, then you probably know that he's killed a lot of people. Including parents of students here at the school. This year, Dumbledore wants us to be the ones to tell the kids. He says that there're bound to be some deaths. Of parents, I mean." James swallowed uncomfortably. "He thinks that it'll be easier for the kids to find out from us, people they know as human beings, than to hear from teachers."

"The seventh year prefects will do it for kids from their own houses. The idea is that we know the kids."

A Hufflepuff prefect named Lucille was the first to break the silence following James's statement. "I think that's a very good idea. It's hard enough losing a parent, but even though the teachers are nice about it, it's hard. Last year, when my parents" here she paused and took a deep breath. Suddenly Lily remembered that Death Eaters had killed Lucille's parents the year before. Lucille started again, "After my mum and dad died Professor Sprout told me. She was very nice and all, but really uncomfortable, she was so sorry, but, I don't know, it just, I think it would have been better if it was another student. That's all."

Lily nodded. "That's right. So, we're going to be those students. Professor Dumbledore has already talked to our teachers so that if we have to we can leave classes. Are there any questions?" Lily was confident now. This was easy. She knew how to tell people what to do.

"I have a question," stated Charles Nott, of Slytherin.

"Yes?"

"Why do we care that the parents of mudbloods, sorry muggleborns, and half-bloods are dying? They weren't worth anything."

"Why do we care?" Exclaimed Lily, shocked, "It's the right thing to do. We have to. They haven't done anything wrong!"

"They aren't purebloods. They aren't nearly as good as we are. Oh, sorry, I am. You are also a mudblood, aren't you? And Head Girl, I truly am shocked by the Headmaster's choice. I ask again, can any of you give me a satisfactory answer as to why we care. I want an answer from someone who is actually a witch or wizard, and not muggle scum. Why do we care?"

The other prefects stared at him, shocked by his words.

"Because," began James, his voice suddenly as cold as ice, "they are human beings, as are their children, who have to deal with the loss. If you won't take it from Lily, even though she is more of a witch than you will_ever_ be a wizard, then take it from me. I am pureblooded, for all the good it's done me. Which isn't much, considering it puts me in the same category as you. These kids deserve this just as much as you would if you were in their place. More, really, because they are better people. Are there any other complaints? No? Excellent. Meeting adjourned."

James watched the prefects leave, noticing that Lily hadn't moved. After all the others were gone he said, "I'm sorry. I lost my temper. It's just that he probably isn't ever going to even have to do it. If anything it'll be him or his parents making it _necessary_. And he shouldn't call you that. Or any muggleborns really."

"I didn't complain, did I?" asked Lily her voice dry. "I'm so sick of the way that they act. It's stupid and bigoted, and it's the reason that we had to have this meeting at all. It's just that blowing up like that, even if it is satisfying, doesn't often change peoples mind. I learned that the hard way," she paused giving James a hard look.

He didn't catch it. "How?"

"From an idiot I know who just couldn't take 'no' for an answer. I must have yelled at him a thousand times, but he never seemed to get the message." She was glaring at him now.

"Oh. You mean me?" She nodded and he looked sheepishly at his feet. "I was a bit annoying, wasn't I?"

"A bit doesn't even_begin_ to cover it!"

"I guess not. I really did mean what I said at the station though, for what it's worth. I'm sorry."

"Yes, I suppose that you are. At any rate, I don't mind you having blown up at him. Truth to tell, I was about to do the same if he kept up his 'purebloods are holy and awesome and anyone else can go rot' for much longer. He's such a git. I mean, honestly, what was Dumbledore thinking?"

James laughed, "Careful, you're starting to sound like him. Remember? That was what he was saying about you."

She rolled her eyes, "But I, unlike him, have a point."

James nodded, and Lily got the distinct sense that he was still slightly awed by the fact that he was being allowed to talk to _Lily Evans_. And without any injuries too! Then he seemed to gather his wits and said, "True, but who should it have been instead?"

Lily looked at him calculatingly, then replied, "Well, I know that you're going to disagree with me on principle, but I honestly think Severus would have been better." She held up a hand when he looked like he was about to interrupt. "No, hear me out. I know that you don't like him, but he gets better grades than Nott, although that isn't hard to do, really, and whatever my own personal feelings towards him are," here she paused, wondering, as she had often done since the fateful day at the end of fifth year, just what they were. It was so muddled, him being the one to tell her about magic and then calling her mudblood. She continued, "No matter what my feelings are, he would take the responsibility seriously."

James looked at her, calculatingly, and Lily wondered what he was thinking. After a few moments he spoke, saying, "I don't think that it would work, and I think that Dumbledore knew that. No, now it's your turn to hear me out, Lily. I'm not saying this because of my personal feelings. I do have an actual reason."

Lily's eyebrows shot up, but she remained silent.

"Much as it pains me to say this, for reasons that really are valid, based on his actions towards me and my friends, you're probably right about him being a better Prefect than Nott. But there's a sort of a ranking system in old pureblooded society, that certain families are better. Sort of like feudalism. I think that it's probably related to that, now that I think of it. Started around the same time or something. Part of that is that you shouldn't dilute your blood by marrying muggles_or_ lower-class wizards. And that those who are higher ranking should lead those who aren't."

"I don't agree with that, but many of the families in Slytherin do. Dumbledore knows that. And, well, you know that Snape's a half-blood. And the Princes aren't all that high up on the social scale. If Snape had been pure, then his grades might have been enough to make up for his family's standing, but even then I'm not sure. As it is, Dumbledore was protecting Snape by doing this."

Lily's eyebrows, which had been rising higher and higher as James spoke, had nearly disappeared into her hair. "Protecting him from what? I still can't believe that Dumbledore would be biased like that, even if pureblood families like Nott's and the Malfoys were."

"Protecting him from the other kids and their families. They'd probably attack Snape if Dumbledore put him in a position of authority, just to prove that they could. You have to understand that it's been tried before. In the other houses it's worked fine, as you can probably tell for yourself. But the kids who get into Slytherin are generally the ones who have an issue with it. Probably because those sort of people are really ambitious, and often sly."

"About thirty-five or forty years ago the Headmaster, Armando Dippet, tried putting a lower class kid in. The kid he put in was attacked and threatened. Finally he had to give the position to another kid. The next year he picked a boy, Tom Ridder, I think my dad said. Apparently he was supposed to be like a sort of a stepping-stone. He was popular, but had grown up in a muggle orphanage. When he got to school apparently he figured out that his mum was from some really old wizarding family. Dippet figured that people would see that the way that you were raised didn't matter. The plan didn't work very well though. Apparently Ridder was all for pureblood domination and encouraged it to the point where Dippet felt that it would practically be murder to put another low-ranking or halfblood kid in."

"Wow. I had no idea. I hate how there are people who actually believe that nonsense! I didn't even know about the rank part of that. You know," said Lily slowly, "it's times like this when I feel most awkward about being muggleborn. I suppose that most people would assume that it would be something like when a Slytherin is teasing me, but kids do that everywhere. If it isn't because of your family, then it's about reading too much or your looks or other nonsense. But when you talk about stuff like this I always wonder what other things I don't know. Things that every wizard five-year-old knows, but which I'll never learn in school. I guess that you'd feel the same in the muggle world, though, wouldn't you? But I suppose that you'll never live there. It's not like being a muggleborn; you fit into the world you were born. Although I suppose that squibs don't, do they?"

She paused and James looked at her feeling slightly bemused.

"Sorry. That was sort of babbling, wasn't it? It's just frustrating."

"Yeah. I can imagine. Sort of, I mean. It's never actually happened to me, so… But, I'm sorry about the way that wizards act. We always just assume that people know things. After all, we do. And I'm sorry about Nott. He's wrong."

"I know. It's okay. You don't have to apologize for them. I know that you don't think that. And you're actually generally better about explaining things than most purebloods. Laura is so awful. I think that part of it is that she's really proud of herself for knowing stuff that I don't, because in school at least I'm smarter."

"Oh. Yeah, I can understand that. Occasionally Peter knows something that the rest of us don't. He always gets really excited. It's sort of understandable though."

Suddenly she glanced at the watch her friends had gotten her for her seventeenth birthday. She realized, with a mounting sense of horror, that she had been talking to James for the past half hour. And not just talking. She had been pouring out her feelings to a boy she had sworn never to trust again. Not good. What on earth had she been thinking? Scratch that, why wasn't she thinking? She realized that James was staring at her and panicked.

"Um, um, I've got to go. Lots of things to do, you know. Meeting with Henri. Homework and all that. Toodles." Then she ran out.

James sat there, blinking, wondering exactly what had just happened.

Author's note: An update! Shocking, I know. I'm so sorry for not having updated in a month and a half. I have been spending all of my time doing schoolwork, and I kept thinking that I was about to have a chance to update- and then not getting it. I hope that you can find it in your kind hearts to forgive me. Once again, I am so, so sorry. On another note, I promise to respond to any reviews that I get, as long as they are signed or have an e-mail I can reply to.


	5. Friends

Disclaimer: Any places, people, events or things that you recognize are the property of J.K. Rowling, not me.

Note: The end of the last chapter has been edited slightly.

Friends

Lily rushed into the library, then slowed her steps, knowing that if Madam Pince caught her running in the library she'd probably be thrown out. She looked around, and upon spotting Henri sat down with a great sigh of relief.

She hadn't been lying about her homework meeting with her friend, but she was certainly very glad to have an excuse to leave James.

Henri looked at her friend's flushed face and asked, "What happened? You're late. You, Lily Evans are never, ever late. Even if it _is_ only by a few minutes. So, where were you? I know the prefect meeting wasn't that long, I was in the common room when Remus got back, which was ages ago."

Lily looked at her friend in horror, then said, "I was having a heart-to-heart with James. Please kill me now."

Henri disregarded her friend's plea for death and said, "You were doing what? I could have sworn that you said that you were having a meaningful talk with James, but I know that that can't be right. Last I checked you were still trying to decide if you hated him or not."

"No, you heard me." And with that Lily proceeded to tell the story of what had occurred at the meeting, including the job that Dumbledore had given them.

Lily reached the end of her story, then said, "I don't know what happened. He just listened to me, and agreed, and it was like he understood. He didn't try to make feel stupid for not knowing, or anything. I never imagined that he could act like that. He's always seemed like such a big headed idiot!"

Henri stared for a moment taking in the story, then asked, "Well, the James I knew was. It is, however conceivable that he has changed. What does he seem like now?"

"Well, I can't tell for sure, since it's still the first week of school, but he seems like he's grown up. He's taking his Head Boy responsibilities seriously and stuff. But, I don't know, it's awkward. I sort of suspect that he still likes me, even though he hasn't asked me out, and that really annoys me."

Henri blinked. "He hasn't done anything wrong though. He can't control his feelings. He has, however clearly done a really good job with controlling his actions. I think that you should be impressed, not angry. Weren't you going to give him a second chance this year?" 

"I was," said Lily looking rather torn, "it's just so hard. I have this idea in my head of him being this git. I know that that isn't totally fair, but I just—it's so hard to forget third year."

Henri grimaced. "Yeah. I know what you mean. But we aren't the same people we were then, so maybe he isn't either. Give the poor boy the benefit of the doubt!"

"I know. I am trying. It's just," here Lily's voice dropped to a whisper, "what if he gets me to like him again. I swore that I wouldn't."

Henri bit her lip and took a deep breath. "You made that promise a long time ago. You were angry when you did it, and you were young. I like to think that we've all matured at least a little bit since then."

"Yeah," agreed Lily emphatically, causing the two girls to giggle.

After they calmed down, Lily said, "I suppose that we should do _some_ work. Can we look at Muggle Studies? I'll have to go over the runes with Remus later, I wish that you hadn't dropped that."

"Says the girl who decided not to take Arithmancy because she really prefers surprises. Leaving me, may I add with no one half way decent in my class. Of course I do have Snape. Whatever would I do with out him?"

Lily froze. She had been friends with Severus Snape for many years, but at the end of fifth year they had had a falling out. In point of fact it was partly the fact that Snape would be in the Arithmancy class that had dissuaded her from continuing to take it. Despite the fact that she now truly disliked him, Severus had been her first friend in the wizarding world, the first to tell her that it existed in fact. No matter what he had done after he got older, she sometimes could not help but fondly remember the boy she had once been so close to. Mention of the boy in this manner was something of a taboo among Lily and her friends. "There are plenty of good reasons that I quit that class, as you very well know." Her voice was a little sharper than she had meant it to be, but somehow she could not quite bring herself to apologize.

Henri looked at her apologetically. "I know, I was just teasing. Sorry. Anyway, let's get started on the Muggle Studies stuff. We're reading the first section of the chapter on holidays, right?"

"Yep. I think that we're going to be doing them for a while, then reviewing electricity." Lily pulled out her book and began reading as the young lady beside her did the same.

They sat for over two hours, occasionally asking, things like, "How long did McGonagall want that essay to be?" and "Could I borrow some of your ink? I just ran out."

Finally, a bell rang, warning them that dinner would begin in ten minutes. They both looked up, surprised to fund just how long they had spent working. As they started to gather their books and other assorted study materials together, lily looked over at the other girl, and said softly, "Thanks for studying with me. It was really great. And for talking with me. It's good to get stuff off of my chest."

"That's what friends are for."

----------------------------------------------------

When Lily and Henri arrived in the entrance hall Sara, Ruth, and Laura were already there. As soon as they sat down Laura began bombarding them with questions.

"Where were you two? I looked _everywhere_!"

Lily looked at her in surprise, "I had a prefect meeting and then Henri and I were studying in the library. It wouldn't have been that hard to find us." She couldn't help but wonder how her friend could have failed to check the library, and Laura had know she had a prefect meeting.

"You were in the library? Why? What on earth were you doing for hours in the _library_ of all places?"

Lily blinked. "Doing homework and studying. What else would we have been doing?"

"Anything. It's Saturday. You don't have to do work."

Henri rolled her eyes and replied, "Laura, we are in school. We need to pass our classes. To pass we need to do a good job on our work. To do a good job we need to make sure we have enough time to spend on each assignment."

"I didn't do any today, and I'm sure that I'll finish my work! Why should it be any different for you?" Asked Laura sounding rather confused.

Henri took a deep breath and said, "I am taking a lot more classes that you are. Thus I have more work. The same is true for Lily, and I'm sure that Sarah, and Ruth for that matter will agree."

The others nodded.

Laura said, "Oh. Well, _sorry_. I didn't realize that I would be offending you."

Sarah glanced at Lily, who nodded before saying, "None of us are offended. A little stressed maybe, but not really offended. But they're right. We have a lot of work, and this year especially our grades are very important. Next year we need to get jobs or go on for more training and it's hard to do that if you fail all of your classes. However," she added, turning on Lily and Henri, "that does not mean that you can forget to be human. You're still allowed to enjoy yourselves! I feel like we hardly ever see each other anymore."

Lily shrugged. "It's just hard. It feels like there's so much to do and I can't get behind or else."

"Maybe, but the simple fact is that McGonagall probably won't give you a lower grade just because your essay is only ten centimeters longer than she asked for instead of twenty! You need to relax or you won't be able to keep it up. Tonight we are going to have a slumber party. It'll be fun and we can hear all about each other's summers."

Occasionally over their time at Hogwarts they had had parties at night in their dorms. They told secrets, shared fashion tips, painted nails and played games like truth or dare. They called them slumber parties, even though in reality they slept in the same room every night.

Lily looked like she was about to protest, but Henri nodded, saying, "I hate to admit it, but they're right, we need to relax. And talk. Please Lily?"

"We can get snacks from the house elves in the kitchens. Ruth figured out how to get to them when we were looking for you!" added Laura enticingly.

Henri and Lily looked at Ruth in surprise. Then Henri said, "We should leave you guys alone more often if this is what you do when we aren't here! Did you plan this together?"

Sarah grinned. "Perhaps."

This set them all to laughing, and as they finished their dinner planning the fun that they would have that night, Lily thought about how lucky she was to have friends who cared about her.

Author's Note: I have some technical details about classes that I want to take this chance to explain. I have worked out which classes the following characters are taking: Lily, Henri, Sarah, Ruth, Laura, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Snape. The options that I gave them were: DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Charms, Astronomy, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. They could have taken History of Magic too, but oddly enough no one decided to do that. The most classes that anyone can take are seven, and the least is four. I don't know if this is the way that Rowling envisioned it, but the schedule information isn't that good to begin with, and then we only get one year of N.E.W.T. level classes, and it wasn't seventh. Harry and Ron took five in their sixth year, and I'm not sure how many Hermione took, so I just guessed that she would be doing seven. There are no classes that everyone is taking, but Charms comes closest, with everyone but Snape. Sorry that this note is so long. Please take a moment to review and tell me what you thought. I'll respond to all signed reviews. And happy thanksgiving to all Americans!


	6. Dealing with Death

Second Chances

Chapter Six: Dealing with Death

Disclaimer: It isn't mine.

"We are now beginning a unit on muggle holiday traditions. Though they are in some ways similar to our own in others they differ." Professor Skively, the muggle studies teacher was lecturing at the front of the class. They had been in school for several months and it was already the start of November.

"The first holiday we will look at is Halloween. Muggle children often go out in costume to trick-or-treat. This involves asking for candy. The children dress up and- Yes, Professor?"

Skively paused in his speech and turned towards the door where the headmaster was currently standing. "I would like to borrow Mr. Potter and Miss Evans if it alright with you Professor? I believe that we discussed the possibility of this being necessary at the start of the year?"

Skively turned white, remembering well that staff meeting, and knowing well the implications of the headmaster's words.

It had been a few days before the start of school and the staff had just finished discussing security. Dumbledore had stood to his feet and raised a hand for silence. "Teachers. I would like to say that I am greatly impressed with you level of preparedness. You will be able to defend the school most admirably I am sure."

"However, we must all remember that there is a world outside of the front doors. We must recall that that world is suffering. And, perhaps most importantly, we must remember that we and our students are connected to that world."

"I am sad to say that I think it likely that with the current state of affairs there are likely to be deaths in the outside world even if we are able to successfully avoid any within these walls. It is likely that some of these deaths will be those of the families of our students. In such a situation it is, as many of you may already be aware left to us, the school, to inform the students. This job is difficult and those of you who have already had to perform this duty have had limited success in doing it in ways that were effective in terms of comfort."

" I wish to make it clear that I do not blame you for this. Not at all! It is, as I said, a difficult job. However I feel, based on your reports that there may be a more effective way of tackling this issue. I have come to the conclusion that it might be best to ask our seventh year prefects to take over this duty."

There had been an instant uproar as teacher cried out objections. "They are far too young!" "How can you be so sure that they won't make it worse?" "You can't make them face this!" "Have you really thought this through?"

Once again Dumbledore lifted his hand and spoke. "Teachers, I understand your viewpoint, however I would like to assure that I have not lost my mind. I have thought about this long and hard. It is easy to say that we should not expose our prefects to the pain brought on by these losses, at least until such a time as they themselves experience them. However, the reality is that these students will soon enter that world of which I spoke earlier. They will be forced to face reality. We cannot protect them from that, nor should we try, for it would interfere with their maturing."

"To those of you who worry that they are not yet mature enough to handle this well I must remind you that these students are the most mature and responsible that their year had to offer. Not only that, but they are now adults." He paused, allowing that fact to sink in, guessing correctly, that the teachers who had protested were still seeing flashes of terrified first years in their mind, and could do with a reminder that at seventeen these young men and women were now of age.

"Now for this plan it will occasionally be necessary for the students to leave their classrooms during instructional time to fill out these duties. I ask that you allow this and make it as simple as possible for them to catch up on what they miss. And of course that you do the same for any student who experiences a loss. And that, my good friends is all. You may leave." As he exited the room it once more broke into excited discussion of the new policy.

"Professor? May James and I be excused?"

Lily's question jolted Skively back into the present, and he nodded vigorously, saying, "Yes, yes, of course. As the head master said it was discussed at the beginning of the year. Come to see me when you are finished so that I can fill you in on what you miss."

The two teens nodded and followed Dumbledore out into the hallway. As they walked they exchanged a glance, both fairly certain that they knew what this was about.

Once they were outside the classroom Dumbledore spoke, "As you may have guessed, I did not call you out of class to inform you that you had won the school's sock competition, though I must say Mr. Potter that yours are lovely." James looked down at his feet only to realize that one of his socks was red, and the other striped yellow and green.

"Right," agreed James, "Someone died didn't they? Who?"

"You are correct Mr. Potter. It was a double attack. You will have to inform Melissa Brown that her mother and younger brother are dead and her father is in Saint Mungo's. You will also need to tell Mark Ryans that his father is dead. Melissa is a second year currently in potions and Mark is in fifth year currently in class with Professor McGonagall. You may each take one student. I'm very sorry to ask this of you. Also, feel free to spend as much time with them as you need, you may each have the rest of the day off if it should seem necessary. Good luck." He handed Lily two folders containing details and left.

After he had left James and Lily looked at each other. Lily swallowed, then nodded briskly. "Right then. Okay. This is okay. We can deal with this. Right?'

"Yes Lily," James nodded, sensing that she was terrified at the prospect of having to do this. "Its okay. Look, which one do you want?"

"Um, I'll take Melissa. You'd probably intimidate her a bit, no offense, and that's the last thing that we want right now. So, um, yeah. Let's go. Oh, and James?"

"Yeah? Make sure that Mark knows he can talk to you if he wants to. You know him, right?"

James nodded stiffly. "Yeah, he's one of my beaters actually."

Lily smiled weakly, "That's perfect. He'll be comfortable with you, then. Good."

"Right then, I'm off. See you later."

Lily watched him leave, then turned to go to Slughorn's classroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Excuse me, Professor?"

Slughorn turned to see Lily, his face breaking into a large smile as he noticed her. "Why hello Miss Evans! To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

For once Lily couldn't bring herself to put a smile on her face even for her professor. " I need to borrow Melissa. And, um, she might not be back until next class, I'm not sure how long this will take."

Upon hearing her request Slughorn sobered, he nodded to her "Of course. I see. Well, Melissa, you may gather your things and follow Miss Evans."

A dark haired girl with pale skin stood and gathered her things together, carefully sealing up a sample of her potion to hand in. She looked at Slughorn with wide eyes as she passed him, having never seen her jolly old teacher so serious.

She looked up at Lily and asked in a small voice, "Why do you need me miss?"

Lily swallowed hard. "Melissa, we-we're going to have a, um, a conversation. How about we go to that spot on the third floor, you know the one with the bench? It's off of the transfiguration corridor, a bit secluded. Very comfortable."

"Okay. But, why?" Asked the girl, following her.

"I'll explain when we get there. While we walk why don't we introduce ourselves? I'm Lily, you've probably seen me in the common room."

"You're the head girl, Miss Lily Evans," stated Melissa, her voice tinged with slight awe.

"Um, yes, yes I am. And you can call me Lily. And here we are." The two girls sat down. Lily couldn't help but think to herself, 'Now comes the hard part.'

"Okay, Melissa. There is something that I have to tell you, something that you won't like. I'm going to try to do this a best I can, and I want you to understand that I am here. I will listen to you, and you can talk or cr- or do what ever. If you want to yell you can, whatever you want. Alright?"

The younger girl looked at her with wide, scared eyes. She nodded "Yes, but please, just tell me whatever it is. You're making me really nervous talking like that. I want to know."

"Well, you've heard of Lord Voldemort right?" The girl nodded nervously. "Well, as you know he and his followers are rather violent. I'm really sorry, but earlier today there was an attack." She paused for breath.

Melissa simply said one word. "Who?"

"Your mother and younger brother are dead and your father is in Saint Mungo's."

There was silence for a moment and Melissa nodded. "Right. What do I have to do? When is the funeral and how will I be getting there? Are there arrangements to be made? Is my dad going to be alright?"

Lily looked at the girl, impressed by how controlled she seemed. "Your father will be fine. He is making all the funeral arrangements. The funeral will be in a few days and you will get there by the express."

Melissa nodded. And nodded. And nodded. Then she began to cry. As Lily hugged the girl she couldn't help but notice just how young she was. They sat like that for a while and then they talked a bit. Melissa shared stories about playing pirates with her brother at the park and cooking with her mom. She also cried a fair bit. Lily took the girl down to the kitchens to eat dinner, coming to the conclusion that the younger girl wasn't really up to eating with other people or talking to friends just now. Finally they returned to the tower and Melissa went to bed after being told by Lily that if she needed anything she should come to her.

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When Lily went down to the common room on her way to Slughorn's office she ran into James. As they were both going the same direction they decided to walk together.

They walked in silence for a few moments before James asked "So how'd it go?'

"It went as well as it could have, I guess. But I dunno, it's just so _sad_. She cried for a while then she was telling me about her family." Lily's voice was hollow. "Her little brother wanted to play quidditch when he grew up. Now he's never even going to have the chance to try. How can anyone do that to a kid? How?"

James nodded grimly. "Yeah. I know what you mean. Mark was pretty upset too. When I first told him he just ran off. He got this look in his eye for a moment and then he ran. I let him. I guess that I sort of figured he needed to be alone for a bit, you know?"

"I found him on the pitch. He was flying like crazy, and by the time I got up there his face was sort of red, you know, like you can tell that someone has been crying? I was so scared that he was going to jump off or something. But he calmed down a bit. Didn't talk much. We just sort of flew around and passed the quaffle. But, heck, I could tell that he was real upset and I couldn't do anything. I hate feeling helpless."

Now it was Lily's turn to nod. "Yeah," her voice was almost a whisper, "I know exactly what you mean. And the worst part is thinking that it's going to happen again. We were lucky that it took this long before someone died. And I think that it was only today that I realized that this job is going to have to go beyond just telling the kids. We're going to have to make sure that we're there, even after."

They fell silent, and walked the rest of the way like that, side by side, companionably.

Author's Note: Um, hi. cowers in fear of angry readers Sorry that this took so long. I was kind of overwhelmed by freshman year. But I am now back on track, although I will be away for three weeks this summer. If any of you are still reading I am so grateful! Thanks! Also, please review if you have a moment. I promise that I will respond to all signed reviews.


	7. Helping

Disclaimer: Any characters, places, things, animals, or ideas that you recognize belong to JKR. In other words, it isn't mine.

Dedication: To Lori, my cousin who updated her fic, and thereby got me guilted into writing. Her name on here is IheartHP95, and you should all go check her stories out!

Chapter seven: Helping

Over the next few weeks it became clear that Lily was right. Their responsibilities would have to extend beyond simply telling students. She started spending one or two hours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights sitting with Melissa. In theory she was helping the girl with schoolwork, as her grades had dropped sharply following the death of her mother and younger brother, but in practice, she spent just as much time listening to the younger girl talk, and helping her get back on her feet.

On a Friday three weeks following the attack Lily was sitting in her dorm room working with Melissa on a project for Slughorn. After the first session in the library Lily had decided that the dorms were the best spot for her to work with Melissa.

Lily and the younger girl had only been in the library for about ten minutes when Melissa began to talk about her mother. She had only gotten a short way into that before she began to cry. Lily had been uncertain at first of what to do, but decided that a good place to start was telling the younger girl that she was not doing anything wrong, as Melissa was apologizing for her breakdown as she cried.

Before she could Madam Pince swooped down on them. For a moment Lily was worried that Pince was going to kick them out and yell at Melissa for making noise, and getting tears on her textbook. Lily prepared herself to yell back at the older woman, but it was unneeded.

Pince swept the twelve year old into her arms, telling her that everything was fine, she had nothing to be ashamed of, and she still had lots of people who loved her. Lily could do nothing but look on in amazement. When Melissa's tears had stopped, and she seemed calmer, Pince helped her find several books to read, telling Melissa that "this one was my favorite when I was just a few years older than you were. My mother was killed by Grindelwald, yes, the one Dumbledore defeated. It's about a lovely young witch who has a few problems of her own."

After that Pince had suggested that Lily take her young friend down to kitchens, even telling her the way to get in by tickling the pear. Lily had obeyed, listening to Melissa chatter about how nice Madam Pince had just been and how Melissa had always thought that she was kind of scary, but that today she had been so nice, and were they really going to the kitchens?

It was later that night, just a few minutes before closing time, when Lily returned to the library. She went up to the desk rather shyly, and said, "Madam Pince?"

The librarian's back had been turned to her as she sorted files of some sort, but at the sound of Lily's voice she turned. "Yes, Miss Evans?"

Lily could have sworn that the woman was looking at her differently, as if Lily impressed her. "I wanted to thank you for helping Melissa. I didn't really know what to do." Lily was mildly terrified, she had never thought of the old librarian as anything but intimidating, and occasionally unreasonable about books.

Pince's eyes seemed to be reading Lily's soul as she said, "You'd have managed. But I thought that all things considered you might be able to use a bit of help. Like I told Melissa, I was only a few years older than her when my mother was killed. I had a hard time. But she'll be fine, she's a smart girl, I know. Don't look so surprised. I watch students study, and you can tell which ones are serious about it. But Lily," she paused.

"Yes?"

"It might be wise not to work here. Melissa needs someone to talk to at least as much as she needs a tutor. And even if it worked out today, she won't really want to have other students watching her cry. And Ravenclaws can be most unreasonable when you make noise while they study. I'd suggest your common room or dorm."

This hadn't occurred to Lily. "Yes, thank you. I don't really know what to say." And it was true. She had never imagined that Madam Pince of all people would have hidden depths.

"Now, it is time for me to go to bed, and I believe that you have a patrol scheduled." Pince gestured to a chart hanging on the wall where prefects could check to see when they had duties if they had forgotten. Lily nodded and turned to leave. Just before she reached the door Pince added, "If you think that it would help anyone else to talk to me, bring them here."

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James' approach was a little bit different. For a week following the attack he excused Mark from Quidditch practice. On his first practice after James asked him to stay late at the end.

"Look, James, I know that I missed a few bludgers, I was distracted when I should have been paying attention to the balls, it won't happen again, it's just that I…"

"James sat on the bench in the locker room waiting for Mark to finish, and as he voice trailed off he said, "Mark, do me a favor."

Mark's eyes widened, and he looked terrified, as if he though he was in a great deal of trouble. "Yes?"

"Stop apologizing. Look, if you hadn't missed a bludger or two, or ten, I'd have been shocked. The fact that you only missed one is a testament to how good you are. Anyone in the world would have been distracted in you position."

Here James paused. He knew that he had to word this carefully, if he was going to achieve his goal. He was not really very good at talking to people, and helping them with their feelings. That was Remus' territory. But this was important, so he was going to try anyway.

"I know that you haven't had a very good week or so. And that isn't something that's likely to get a lot better anytime soon." He noted that Mark's face was turning white again and hastened to reassure him. "Mark! I'm not going to kick you off the team, so stop worrying. Remember what I said a minute ago? If I was you, I'd have missed all of the bludgers, you only missed a couple. You did a good job today."

"But what I wanted to talk to you about is that, um, look, mate, if you want to talk or something, I'm here, you know? You don't have to deal with this alone. So yeah."

Mark looked like he was struggling not to cry. James just waited silently, hoping that it was the right thing to do. Finally, Mark seemed to feel that he was ready to speak.

"Thanks James. Thanks a lot. That's really good to know. Thanks."

"No problem. Hey, do want to go for a bit of a fly? I don't think anyone else is using the pitch tonight."

Mark's face lit up. "Yeah, that'd be great."

The two exited the locker rooms, mounted their broomsticks, and rose into the sky. They flew lazily, without purpose, simply rising and falling. This was what James loved most of all, simply flying for the pure joy of it, rather than with the goal of winning, or having to worry about scoring goals. As he glanced over at Mark he could not help but think that Mark felt the same way. He hoped that flying would help the other boy.

The two of them fell into a pattern of flying together after practices. At first they were always silent, but as time went on Mark started to talk to James about his classes, and James simply listened as the two teens flew figure eights.

Eventually Mark started to tell stories about his dad. At first he talked about learning to fly, then about what they did during the summers. He talked about how much he missed him. James simply listened. They didn't talk about the post-practice flights during any other time, because somehow, it just didn't seem to be necessary.

Occasionally James would make a comment, agreeing with the statements Mark still sometimes made about teachers, even sharing a story of his own once or twice. James paid no attention to the tear-streaks on Mark's face, pretended that they weren't there, or that they simply from sweat, because that was the only thing that he could think to do, and it was what he'd have wanted.

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After those first two there were more. Three weeks later Lily was called out of Ancient Runes to speak to a third year and a sixth year. They were brother and sister, Anthony and Rachel Sparks. They had already been sent to a classroom, so that they could both be told at once.

When Lily reached the room she knew from the looks on their faces that they already knew what was coming. Rachel was the older, and she asked a simple one-word question. "Who?"

"Both of your parents. They were at home. The funeral will be on Friday."

Rachel nodded, then closed her eyes as if fighting back tears. "Okay." Anthony began to cry, and his sister held him. To Lily it seemed as if she was clutching him, as if he was the only thing stopping her from drowning.

She wished that there were something easy that she could do that would fix it, something that would make it better, easier. At the same time she got the feeling that there was nothing at all in the world that could possibly fix this. So she stood there with them, as they cried, simply waiting.

Eventually they calmed and Rachel looked up again, still not really releasing her hold on her brother. "What do we need to do?"

"Nothing. As I said, the funeral will be on Friday. You will be excused from classes until then, and on Monday you will resume them. You won't have to make up the work. For the moment you will stay at Hogwarts, naturally. Rachel, I will need to talk to you about living arrangements at some point, however for the moment it is not an issue. If either of you need any help don't hesitate to come to me. Even if you just need someone to talk to. James too."

"Right." Rachel nodded, as she had done throughout Lily's speech. It seemed as if she was still trying to comprehend what had happened. "Is it okay if we go back to the common room?"

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"James?"

James was sitting in the common room reading a chapter from his Muggle studies textbook, when he heard Lily's voice. "Yes?"

"Can we talk?"

"Sure," James said, agreeably, and gestured to the seat next to his.

But Lily shook her head, and said, "Is it okay if we go take a walk while we do this? We probably should do it where everyone can hear." James nodded, intrigued, and stood to follow her.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Lily began to explain what it was that she wanted to discuss. "I know that you've been flying with Mark."

"Yeah, yeah, I have. Is that a problem?" James was rather confused; he couldn't really see where this was going.

"No, not at all, actually, I think that it's really great. I've been talking with Melissa too. But we've both talked to others now, and so have the other prefects." James nodded. Recently attacks had been increasing.

"Well, I was sort of thinking about it, and I think that we need to find a way to help all of them. We've both been talking to a few people, and I know that some of the other seventh year prefects have too, but We can't get to everyone, and even if we could, we aren't necessarily going to be the best people for them to talk to."

James nodded, seriously. "Yes. I know exactly what you mean. I knew Mark already, and I was able to help him, but I can't just take everyone out and start flying with them. That won't work. But they all need help like that."

"Exactly. So I think that we should form a sort of group. We and the other prefects can all work together, and we can try to figure out who could help them best. Maybe form small groups of similar people and have more than one person meet at once."

James was excited. This was a way that he could really do something to help these kids. "That sounds like it could work. How did you think of this?"

"Actually, I didn't, not really. You remember Rachel Sparks?" He nodded, and she continued, "Her parents died about a week ago. Today she came to talk to me. She seems like she's been coping pretty well, but she's worried about her brother. He's been sort of listless, I guess, and she had heard about what you'd done with Mark and was wondering if Anthony could join you. I said that I'd talk to you about it."

James said, "Yeah, absolutely, I'll see if I can talk to him tonight."

"Great. Any way, I asked her how she was doing, and she told me that she'd actually been talking to Amy."

"She's the Hufflepuff seventh year, right?" asked James. Lily nodded. "So what made her think to go talk to her?"

"That's the neat thing. I guess that Amy used to dance before she got to Hogwarts, and so she started teaching one of the Hufflepuffs whose mom had died, sort of as a way to calm down, and as a distraction. Rachel danced too, and she'd heard about this, so she decided to go see what it was like. It's been really great for her, I guess. I think that the important thing is probably not just that they're doing something they enjoy, but that they can talk to someone who will listen."

"Probably. So are we going to have a meeting with the others?"

"Yes, it seems like the best thing to do. I'll talk to the other seventh years. Tomorrow will be fine, right?"

"Yeah, but let's get the others too. They might have some good ideas too."

"Fair enough. I guess that that's it then."

"Yeah," James agreed, nodding. "I'm going to go talk with Anthony." As he turned to go, he found himself wishing that the two of them could continue to walk together, talking comfortably.

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They got their system up and running and it worked fairly well, much to Lily's joy.

Meanwhile their studies continued, and this year they were more important than ever before. This year their grades could change what they did after school. Also, the whole year seemed to have a kind of finality to it. It was an ending just as much as it was a beginning. Though they would be starting their lives as active adults in the wizarding world Lily felt like she was losing something. Hogwarts had been the first place that she'd really fit in, because she had always been different from her muggle peers. She was sad to leave it behind, and threw herself into living the year with great gusto.

She loved her classes and her friends. Right now they were working on a project for muggle studies relating to the holidays they had been studying. The class had decided that their project was going to be based around Halloween. It had been Sirius' idea to do a Hogwarts wide trick-or-treat. Instead of being on Halloween, which had passed by long before, it was to be on the last day before Christmas break.

Instead of going to different houses in a neighborhood, the students were going to go to classrooms within the school. Each student was working on something different. Lily was helping all of the students from various houses with their costumes, as was Henri. It had been decided that no one was to be allowed to get any candy if they did not have a costume, and so there was a great deal of demand for their help. James and Sirius were also arranging for there to be a competition for best costume, so each student was required to at least help in the design if not the making of their costumes.

There were also other people working on making sure all of the classrooms got candy and others working on decorations. There was even a group researching muggle party games and music for the dinner following the trick-or-treat. The event promised to be a great deal of fun.

Lily hoped that the celebrations would cheer up some of the students whose parents had been killed.

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Author's note: I'm really sorry about how long this took. I would promise that the next update won't take as long, but since that doesn't usually work out for me, I won't. I'll try to do better though, really. This chapter is really long if that's any consolation. Thanks to anyone who is still reading! If you review I promise I will respond.


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